


October

by fuuckya



Series: Empty Apartments [2]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of words, feeling a bit blue, i dunno, joshler - Freeform, no story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 13:03:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10945080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuuckya/pseuds/fuuckya
Summary: Are we there yet?’ comes a raspy voice next to him, and Josh smiles in the darkness. Tyler shifts to sit up, letting out a yawn and rubbing at his tired eyes.'Good morning, sleepy head. No, we’re not there yet.’





	October

**Author's Note:**

> hmm, here we go again.
> 
> This is just words, I'm not sure where I'm going with any of this. Also, this is poorly edited because I'm not quite sure what I want from it.
> 
> Sorry about that.
> 
> Enjoy.

Josh likes to drive when it’s raining, especially at night. He likes to wait until the windscreen gets so blurred with rain that the lights and the lines of the road all smudge into one big mess of colours. Only then, when he can barely even tell what he’s looking at, does he flick the wipers on, clearing the world of blur. 

Tyler sleeps next to him in the passenger seat while he does this. His face is peaceful and void of any frown lines and eyebrow furrows. Josh wonders what he dreams, if he even dreams anything at all. He probably doesn’t, because then frown lines would show up on his face, his brain is always ticking, therefore, he's always got a little frown line on his brow. Josh isn't sure if it's contemplation or not. He thinks it's cute, regardless.

The radio hums some static, white noise, like the rain pattering on the roof of the car. It all blurs into one like the water on the windscreen. Like the steady breaths that Tyler breathes in his dreamless sleep. He’s curled in on himself somehow, almost too tall for Josh’s shitty, little car. His head is resting against the window, arms crossed tightly against the night’s cold air. He has one foot on the seat, knee leaning haphazardly to the side, the other foot firmly on the ground. His seat belt is twisted but keeping him secure.

Josh isn’t wearing his seat belt, and it doesn’t mean anything. He just doesn’t like to wear it, he feels like it suffocates him, sometimes.

Maybe that’s just the fog on the back window from their shared breathing.

The windscreen blurs again and the wipers go, clearing his vision. A truck blares past them on the opposite side of the road, bright lights and heavy tires, with a destination in mind. A place to be.

They have no destination, but there’s an end, Josh thinks. The past few weeks he’s been dreaming of sand and waves and itching for an adventure. 

Tyler finally agreed one evening, when a car alarm was going off down the street. He was sitting in bed with a mug of hot chocolate, knuckles tight around the ceramic like the sound of the alarm was ripping the sleep right out of him. _It might be good to get out of the city for a few days._

It’s too cold for the beach, but maybe they can wear all their jackets and pretend it’s warm. Maybe Josh will take his clothes off and swim in the icy water, hold his breath as long as he can, until his ears pop.

The wipers go again on the windscreen.

‘Are we there yet?’ comes a raspy voice next to him, and Josh smiles in the darkness. Tyler shifts to sit up, letting out a yawn and rubbing at his tired eyes.

‘Good morning, sleepy head. No, we’re not there yet.’ 

Tyler reaches out and puts a warm hand on Josh’s thigh. The sleeves of his sweater almost covers his whole hand, ‘Do you want to switch? I can drive for a bit if you want.’

Josh flicks the wipers and then puts his hand on top of Tyler’s, feeling out the bones of his fingers as they both watch the windscreen fill up.

‘I’m alright,’ he replies softly, ‘I’ll let you wake up first. The next pit stop we can switch.’

There’s a million things Josh wants to do when they get to the coast. He can’t wait to feel the sea breeze on his skin, and to pick up a handful of sand and let it fall straight through his fingertips, like time. Like summer.

He wishes it was summer because Tyler always goes a lovely tan colour in the sun. He looks happier too, in the summer. He frowns a lot less. 

‘You should put your seat belt on,’ Tyler observes, sleepy eyes watching him, always watching him. He’s frowning a bit as he says it, Josh can tell. 

‘It feels like it’s choking me – sometimes,’ Josh replies, but takes his hand off Tyler’s to grab the seat belt and secure it in place. 

‘I’d rather have you breathless than not breathing at all,’ Tyler replies, reaching out to brush the back of his hand against the seat belt across Josh’s chest, right over his heart. 

The wipers go.

Josh smiles at that, he likes it. Tyler always seems to know what to say. 

A sign flashes past them, telling them a gas station is coming up. 

There’s a few moments of silence and dark road and blur and then lights. Lights of the gas station rushing closer like the lights of Las Vegas peering over the dessert horizon. A beacon, almost. 

They pull up under the fluorescent haze, undercover next to the gas pumps. The rain pelts down around them, white noise. 

The windscreen stays completely dry. 

Josh kills the engine and turns to Tyler.

They sit in silence for a moment, just looking at each other. He looks so beautiful, even in the harsh fluorescent lights. Josh’s eyes are tired, but they never lie.

‘Shall we?’ Tyler motions for him to take the wheel, and Josh smiles a tired smile, eyes burning under the harsh lights. 

Josh opens the door to get out and swap sides, and the cold night air rushes past him, making him shiver and pull his hood up over his head. Tyler does the same from across the top of the car, and they brush shoulders as they round the front together. Tyler reaches out to grab him, suddenly. A warm hand engulfing his forearm.

He places a kiss on the side of Josh’s face, lips like summer. Then he lets him go.

They take their respected seats, slamming the car doors shut once again.

‘Ready?’ Tyler asks, as Josh reaches over to put his seat belt on, tugging on it for good measure.

He looks up and Tyler is smiling, eyes bright like the sun. Awake. Ready.

‘Ready.’ Josh replies, soothing a hand on Tyler’s thigh, ‘Take me to the beach.’

The engine roars into life, and the wipers go automatically, screeching rubber against dry glass. The world painfully HD in the ring of light engulfing them. Josh can see all the cracks on the roof and the remnants of frown lines on Tyler’s brow.

It’ll be alright, he thinks, closing his eyes as they pull out into the darkness again. He lets the lull of the car put him to sleep. 

If he pretends hard enough, maybe when he wakes up, it’ll be summer. Tyler’s skin will be salty and tan, and everyone will be happy.

If not, that’s okay as well. They’ll just put on all their jackets, and take it one day at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. That did no go anywhere!
> 
> Again, may or may not continue.
> 
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
